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I think the problem with processed food is that it allows combinations of nutrients which don't occur in nature, which our bodies are not well adapted to. It's

I think the problem with processed food is that it allows combinations of nutrients which don't occur in nature, which our bodies are not well adapted to. It's not so much processed foods - obviously you can have processed foods which are healthy too. But if people with very unhealthy diets cut out the kinds of processed foods they eat it would probably go a long way towards making them healthier. And you're right that capitalism is the root cause - the incentives are skewed towards making foods more addictive and moreish, to help with sales, which leads to making them worse for us. Big food companies even have labs to help them optimise this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary...

Gibbon1 11y ago
One problem with a lot of processed foods is the removal of soluble fiber which if present slows down the digestion of carbohydrates (glucose). Another problem is many processed foods contain added free glucose and fructose. The result of eating these foods are very high glucose levels in the blood + insulin levels which interferes with metabolic signaling. Insulin tells your body to store glucose as fat. Insulin inhibits leptin receptor signalling which means your brain loses the ability to sense how much fat your body is carrying around. Fructose in large amounts is hepatotoxic, just like alcohol. In fact for the same metabolic reason as alcohol.